In Tibetan Buddhism there is a state of mind known as “cascade mind” or “waterfall mind”. It is the state of mind that anyone trying meditation for the first time (and plenty of us who’ve been practising for a long time) know very well – the mind trips and tumbles from one thought to the next, throwing up a seemingly-endless stream of thoughts like a cascade of water.

It can be infuriating and it can be shocking when we see just how the mind is working. Try as we might to return to the breath or whatever we are attempting to focus upon, we are pulled back to this discursive procession of thoughts. Many people reach this point and decide that meditation is not for them. “I can’t meditate… when I sit down to meditate my mind just won’t settle down, it’s just moving all the time” is a sentiment I’ve often heard. But I want to stress the value of seeing your cascade mind. Everyone’s mind can be like this – chances are you do not have a uniquely hyperactive mind, however much it might feel like that sometimes. The very fact that you have begun to notice how chaotic things are in there is a big deal and an important part of the process of developing mindfulness.

When we begin to notice the cascades of our mind it can feel like things are worsening. In truth, you have just become much more aware of something that is going on inside you all the time. Don’t be dispirited. Things feel like they’re getting worse but, in truth, you need to notice that waterfall of thoughts before you can start learning how your mind works, accept this and learn to work with it.

Going back to the quote above – when we begin to become more aware of our speech and those moments when we stammer it might well feel like things are going downhill. I suspect that things are not really going downhill. It’s the same frustration and shock we can experience when we are first faced with cascade mind. So, if you start to come up against an cascade mind while meditating or what we might call “cascade stuttering” when you speak, keep with it – you are getting somewhere!